Scent
by Intergalactic Chocochip Cookie
Summary: The night when James found Alice, how he likes her, he is about to kill her, and how he sees her transforming into a vampire, thanks to Dr. Vamp, her doctor and protector who is in love with her .


**Scent**

It was the most beautiful night. Not once in my three hundred years had the moon seemed closer, it had never shined with such a clear, warm light. The stars could be counted by millions, each one a bright staring eye.

I had been wandering for a while, not sure of what to do. I wasn't quite thirsty, not yet, and the idea of going back home just bored me. This was a lonely place. The only things I could hear were my own feet on the grass and a very ocassional owl. Then the wind blew.

* * *

The breeze had been light, soft, but to me it felt like a blow. The scent it carried burned me like a thousand fires, tearing my body and making desire arise from the very centre of my soul. No words could describe this fragance, it was like jasmine, blueberry, whitelily, a winter night, a lake, a child's laugh. Like mad, I turned in the direction of the wind, prisioner of a savage need.

I found the building. St Therese's Asylum. Why, the perfume came from a madhouse. I caugth the whiff once more, and my mouth filled with venom. The urge of drinking had become unbearably painful. Walking around the building I found the spot where the scent was stronger. I ran across a small garden and found a plate that claimed the hallway to be Section 3. As far as I knew, Section 3 was reserved for the hopeless, those minds gone beyond repair. Could it be, that my maddening _cantante _were a Hopeless? Guided by the wind, I found a door. Yes, this was the place. I forced the lock and opened the door. Slowly, I came in.

The vision was surreal. Illuminated by the moon, a girl was lying on the floor, sleeping. She looked very small in size, her hair was short and black, and the stars gave her skin an alabaster, translucent appearance. She was young, sixteen at the most, still a child, but the elegance she exhaled, even asleep, made it hard to believe she was crazy.

The whole room was filled with her scent. This was my _cantante, _and the blood I heard running through her veins was so maddening I almost took her there and then, without thinking twice. And most certainly I would have, but then I heard footsteps coming across the hallway. A vampire's. It intrigued me, an immortal trapped in this prision, but not so much to investigate. It might turn into a fight, and I wasn't in the mood for it. I decided to hide, and only reveal myself if he tried to steal my beautiful prize.

I left the room and ran the way I'd come, stopping round the corner. Discretly, I looked and saw a man wearing a doctor's robe –I _never_ would understand the obsession some vampires seemed to form with humans-, walking at human pace and concentrated on reading some sheets -that's why I had seen him before he could find me-. He stopped exactly at my girl's cell and came in. As soon as he closed the door, I ran back and spied through a tiny hole in the door.

Dr. Vamp stood a few feet from her, absorbed in contemplation. His expression was fascinated, his eyes had a mesmerized shine. It was plain in his face that he loved her. The question here was, did she love him too? Was she even aware of that love? But I was pulled from my thoughts, because he approached her and knelt beside her. His fingers brushed softly against her hair, her cheek, her lips. Finally, he whispered in a soft, almost inaudible voice "Alice? Alice, can you hear me?" So her name was Alice. From its roots, it meant _the true one_. It seemed a good name, given that she was the true _cantante_, her blood the true temptation, and apparently, she was this vampire's true love. Very fitting, that name.

Anyway, he kept calling her until she stirred. It was a delicate movement, so soft that had I blinked I would have missed it. She opened her eyes, just a little bit, still half asleep, but as soon as she became aware of a presence she whispered frantically "No, please, not the shocks, not again. I've been good, I've taken the medicines, please." You could have heard her terror from miles away. "Don't worry, honey, you won't get the shocks again," he answered in a soothing voice. "It's just me, I came to see how you are. Calm down, darling, no one will hurt you as long as I'm here." His tone was almost fatherly, very, very sweet. Nevertheless, I could not help wondering what could they possibly have done to her to get such a terrified reaction. My killing her would be a deed of mercy, I would free her, poor little creature.

Dr. Vamp kept cooing the girl, and stroked her hair till she finally went back to sleep. He contemplated her a few more minutes, and then kissed her forehead and stood up. I ran again so I wouldn't get caught. Safe again in the corner of the hallway I looked once more. Ah, what a bad thing to do, for in that precise second he looked up and our eyes met. I disappeared as fast as I could, but I knew he had understood it all.

* * *

I gave a couple of days for things to calm down, to make Dr. Vamp think I was definitely gone. I got on Victoria's nerves, in truth I'd never been more bad-tempered. Finally I decided it was time to return to my girl. But when I got to her cell I found the most terrible surprise: it was empty. Fury ran through me, I snarled in my wrath. I went out again, headed toward the woods, finding a couple of humans and killing them just to discharge my anger. And then I heard it, the unmistakable voice of the doctor, with the same soothing tone I'd heard before, now tinted with a little touch of pain and anxiety.

I followed the sound and soon found myself in a meadow, surrounded by pines and cedars. It was a beautiful place, with patches of flowers blooming everywhere. But then I saw the most beautiful flower, right in the middle: the girl, lying on the grass, twitching slightly. Dr. Vamp held her hand, whispering over and over again "It will be fine, it will be over soon, I promise. I'm so sorry." Then I realized. He'd bitten her, had made the hardest choice for a vampire, create another vampire. Instantly, I knew he had done it to protect her from me. But, why had he waited so long? If he loved her, why did he let her suffer, alone in that cell? Such a lover he was.

But this transformation wasn't like the rest, and suddenly I realized why: though the venom was running inside her, she didn't seem to feel the burning. An ocassional movement, or a quiet moan, but not the piercing screams I had heard so many times. Poor tiny thing, she'd spent so much time under medication and shocks that she had become insensible to pain. That would make her a strong vampire, probably talented. But in gaining a strong newborn I had lost the only thing that mattered to me –my _cantante_. There was no reason for me to take her now. In my blind fury, I jumped over the doctor in a merciless attack. He fought back, he was experienced and strong. But I knew his weakness, so I tried to approach the girl. He stepped between us, in an attempt to protect his creation. That was his perdition. In the second that took him to shield her, I launched myself at him and destroyed him. Love can be so destructive sometimes...

I turned to her, the changing, pretty, defenseless child. She had an eternal life full of challenges ahead of her, and she would be completely alone, there wouldn't be anyone to help her, to guide her. Maybe I would see her again, maybe not, who knew. She twitched again, and moaned softly. I knelt beside her, just like the extinct Dr. Vamp had done two nights before, and kissed her lightly on the lips. "Good luck," I whispered. Then I was gone.


End file.
